Stranger in a Strange Land
by Meredith Bronwen Mallory
Summary: Black Lady's magic strands Demando and Usagi in a wilderness both emotional and literal.


AUTHOR'S NOTES: (all in good fun ^_~)

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.... your regularly scheduled author's notes have been interrupted by this emergency broadcast of the Nemesis System....

Please Stand By.

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DEMANDO: (delicately sipping his wine) Greetings, SMRFF. *demonic grin* Happy Halloween, I suppose! Happy for me, at least! I spiked Meredith's Halloween candy, and she's out like a log! BWAHAHAHA! Since she's been sending those horrid happy Usa/Mamo things lately, I dug into her hard drive and found this beauty. It's only a teaser, since the silly girl never finishes *anything*, but still.

'Tis TAFF!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna make a run for it.

*woosh*

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Stranger in a Strange Land (teaser)

by Meredith Bronwen Mallory

mallorys-girl@cincil.rr.com

http://www.demando.net/

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'If she's dead...' he considered suddenly, then broke the though off with blatant desperation. On hands and knees, Demando crawled towards the prone form of Sailor Moon, his movements quick and favoring his right leg. Pain rushed up from the unused left, which he pulled into his mind with masochistic fervor; all the better if he couldn't think past the slow, seeping red in his mind. The roar of the waves was the same as the roaring in his ears when the thought came again; she hadn't moved at all, there on the black sand. He was close enough now, the first thing he was able to touch was her hair as it lay on the bed of broken ebony. Now her arm-- his hands were shaking, he vaugely realized-- which held only faintly remembered warmth beneath the chill of the beach. Hesitantly, his fingers trailed up towards her neck, before he changed his mind and pressed them against her wrist. His mind worked furiously, with the insane speed even he could never hault, carrying onward that horrid thought, as far as it could. Not far at all, actually; life was wrapped up in this small, still golden soldier. To imagine her death was to imagine the complete ceasation of life as a whole. He simply was not equipped to comprehend it.

Through the soft material of her glove he felt the first flutter of her pulse, but held his fingers there longer in case his mad desperation had called it in to being. He waited, shivering a little and thinking that his short time under Earth's sun had spoiled him already. Serenity-- Sailor Moon's-- pulse shuddered again, and Demando collapsed gratefully at her side. The pain in his leg was almost unbareble now, calling him towards that deep, shadow lined abyss that differed little from reality. Calling into his arm what little strength he had left, Demando pulled his cape over the small girl beside him, staring at her profile with hooded, languid eyes. Beyond, he could see the clear brown sky, its swirling mass of stars like eyes, gazing down at his plight without pity. He felt no bitterness, only dulling pain and Serenity's pulse under his grip. The whole ordeal was a strange inversion of any one of his endless fantasies; himself, Serenity, somewhere... A frown marred his features; it was very hard to think.

'I may have hit my head,' he thought, with barely acedemic interest. Gently, he raised Serenity's hand to his cheek, then peeled the clinging satin glove away, pressing kisses into her soft palm. The girl beside him did not stir, but the rise and fall of her chest-- which seemed to run in counter-harmony with the rhythm of Nemesis-- was reassuring. The White Prince closed his eyes, certain he was in a dream, only to fall into another one. In the dark mirror of sleep, he saw the reflection of Blank Lady's hands; red nails curved inward to cup the dark energy, the palms themselves raised as she sent the wave of darkness slamming towards Sailor Moon and...

The beach was deserted, streaching its endless ebony ribbon on in both directions. The strange yellow 'water' lapped at it with a lazy merciliness; it would destroy all life, any life on the beach, but it had all the time in the world. The coast did not resist its murder-- it had been going on for centuries-- someday the 'water' would take all the world back to lifeless hell from which it had come. For now, the coast, indeed the continent, held its own against the yellow liquid. The beach grew out from the ocean and into rocky cliffs. 

The beach was deserted; of course it was deserted. Like all things on Nemesis, the ocean could kill.

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MEREDITH: (awakening from her candy induced stupor) FEEDBACK O KUDASAI!


End file.
